The Sedgefield Community College student had climbed the tree to look for his mates after he arranged to meet them.

Tragically, he fell and broke his neck, leaving him paralysed from the neck down.

Taylor pictured with friends

Since that fateful August day, Taylor’s mum Tara Martin has slept in the hospital in a room near his. But next month - exactly six months to the day since his tragic fall - they are both due to move into adapted accommodation at the nearby Gateway rehabilitation complex.

When they do, it’s hoped Taylor will have an £8,000 specially adapted trike to get around in.

And to fund it, his uncle Roy Gleeson from Redcar has begun a fundraising campaign.

Taylor Gleeson has been in hospital since being paralysed after falling from a tree last year

Tara, 30, remembers how Taylor was stranded at the foot of the tree for more than four hours before she eventually found him.

A broken C5 vertebra was diagnosed - and Taylor’s life was changed for ever.

He spent two and a half months in intensive care before a transfer to children’s ward 21, where he’s been ever since - and where he even met Boro manager Aitor Karanka during Boro’s pre-Christmas visit to James Cook .

Aitor Karanka with Taylor Gleeson at Christmas

Proud Tara says her son is facing up to his future in inspirational fashion.

She said: “There’s the odd day when he’s a bit down but all in all, he deals with it amazingly.

I don’t know how he copes. In fact, he keeps everyone else going.

“He just keeps us laughing. He says it’s happened, there’s nothing else we can do.

“When you have a 14-year-old telling you you’ve got to get on with it, that’s what you have to do.”

Taylor Gleeson

Tara added: “It’s been a bit crazy and certainly life-changing. It’s all about being there for him.

“He knows everything. He knows he’s not going to walk again and he knows he probably won’t get much movement in his hands again.

“Yet in one way, he’s been lucky because falling out of that tree - and lying there in the cold for so long before he was found - could have killed him.

“For all we are in this situation, he knows how lucky he is to even be here.”

Tara, who has given up her job at Greggs to be constantly by Taylor’s side, says the Boma all-terrain bike will give him a degree of freedom when he’s finally able to go out with his pals again.

And his uncle, former SSI worker Roy Gleeson, 34, of Redcar, says they are determined to get him it.

“He’s tried it out at the hospital and it would give him the mobility to get to places with his friends, which is vital for a young lad.”